The Fox and the Monkey
by Gd8909
Summary: Before now, Naruto never really believed in the idea of 'alternate dimensions'. So much for that disbelief. But with this weird stretching kid with a straw hat that got powers from eating magical fruit... well, whatever dimension Kakashi's eye sent him to was pretty messed up. One thing was for sure, at least: he was never asking for a Kamui demonstration again.
1. I: The Boy Who Fell from the Sky

**I: The Boy Who Fell from the Sky**

Dawn Island was almost always a peaceful place, barring the occasional bandit or pirate, but no big names with big bounties ever came, not since Red-Haired Shanks came ten years ago. It helped to have a Marine Vice-Admiral call your island a home. Unless you counted the outlandish escapades of one Monkey D. Luffy, the place was very peaceful, quiet and normal.

Until that blond-haired boy fell out of the sky.

"What the hell...?"

Naruto Uzumaki woke up with a headache and a general sick feeling in his stomach. Also, there were about twenty strangers crowded around him as he lay on the floor. Any self-respecting ninja would be suspicious.

He got up, pulled out a kunai, and assumed a defensive stance to keep everyone back... or he tried to. He was so out of it, he stumbled, cut his hand on the kunai, and fell over again, this time on his face.

They pulled him up now, they were carrying him. Where? A hospital? "I'm okay, I can walk now," he said, and it was true; his strength was slowly returning to him. They let him go, but continued to lead him somewhere.

"You just fell from somewhere pretty high," a man said. "We need to get you checked out."

"Hey, mister!" piped up a child's voice. "Why'd you fall from the sky? What were you doing up there?"

He had no idea how to explain. So he lied. "I... I don't remember a thing... I'm sorry, but it's true."

"But how did you –"

"Give him some space, kid," someone said.

They carried him to the hospital like he'd suspected. He told the nurse he was perfectly fine, but she still checked him, prodding him in different places and asking him if it hurt, examining his whole body.

Finally, she was done. "Seems like all you have are some bruises and a mild concussion," said the bespectacled woman. "But from what I hear, you fell from pretty high up."

He shrugged. "I really don't remember how I got up there, honestly."

She appraised him sceptically. "Amnesia, huh?" He nodded. She turned, about to leave the room, but he stopped her.

"Uh, but, where am I, anyway?"

She turned back and looked at him. "You're on Dawn Island, in the Town Square's hospital."

He slumped, disappointed. He'd never heard of there. "Uh... okay, thanks."

She gave him another analyzing look, then turned to the door. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Alright." She left, shutting the door behind her.

Five hours later, Naruto was admitted from the building, still having no clue where he was. He'd asked everyone in the whole hospital building about Konoha, the Elemental Nations, the Land of Fire, and anything else to do with his home, but turned up with nothing. No one seemed to know anything about the world outside their little island!

The last thing he remembered was being in Konoha, training with Kakashi, Sakura and Sai. He'd begged Kakashi to show off Kamui. After a few minutes of grovelling, Kakashi pulled out his Sharingan. Naruto threw a kunai directly at Kakashi's face... and there it all went black.

He knew Kamui sent objects to other dimensions. But was it possible Kakashi had aimed wrong and transported Naruto instead of the kunai?

He'd asked the hospital workers how far they were from the Elemental Nations. All he got was blank or confused looks. Now, he had no clue what to do.

"Hey!"

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around. His eyes widened as he saw the arm connected to the hand stretching _ten feet _away to its owner. "What the hell?!"

The boy who'd stretched ran up to him, his hand decreasing in length as he got closer. The skinny boy wore blue shorts, a red buttoned vest, and his face was shaded by an old straw hat on top of his head. The boy let go of him and smiled widely. "You're the guy who fell out of the sky, right?"

Naruto didn't compute. "But... your hand. What kind of weird jutsu is that?"

The boy looked confused. "Jutsu? Don't know what that is. Is that what they call Devil Fruits where you come from? Where do you come from? Is there an island in the sky you fell off of?! Can you show me –?"

"Slow down!" Naruto stopped him. "First of all, what are Devil Fruits?"

"Oh, you don't know? Well, I didn't know either 'till I ate one. A Devil Fruit is a magical fruit that gives you a special power when you eat it! I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit when I was little, so now I'm a _rubber man!"_

"..."

The boy frowned. "It tasted really bad though."

Naruto suddenly wondered if he'd met an islander who was 'special' in the head. He didn't really know how to handle the situation and started wondering how he could sneak away.

"But anyway, I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" He stuck out his hand. Naruto shook it hesitantly. "What's your name? And seriously, how'd you fall out of the sky?"

"Uh... I can't remember. And my name's Naruto."

The boy looked disappointed. "You don't remember _anything_? That sucks! Anyway, you don't seem hurt from falling from so high up. Where'd you get so strong?"

Well, at least Naruto could brag a little. Even if no one else believed him, he could talk to this idiot. He drew himself up and pointed a thumb at his chest. "I'm a ninja, so I got strong from all my ninja training! I'm gonna be the next Hokage, the leader of my village, when the current one steps down." He slumped. "Well, I'll do that if I can find my way back, at least."

Luffy looked at him, eyes wide. "You're a ninja? That's so cool!" He puffed out his chest. "I'm gonna set sail out of this place soon and be a _pirate!_ I'm gonna find the One Piece and be the next Pirate King!"

The boasting and over-the-top confidence reminded Naruto oddly of himself. "Cool... but, um, what's a Pirate King? Does he rule over other pirates?"

Luffy shook his head. "The Pirate King doesn't rule anyone but himself!" He held up his hands in delight. "But the Pirate King isn't ruled by _anyone! _He's the most free person in the world!"

A shopkeeper on the side of the road interjected into their conversation. "Don't listen to Luffy, new kid!" he said. "Ever since he ate that Devil Fruit he's wanted to waste his life being a stupid pirate."

"What?" Naruto was astounded. "He really ate a Devil Fruit? They're _real?" _

The man nodded. "Don't I know it. I was in the bar when he ate it ten years ago! Saw his body start stretching all over the place too!"

Naruto turned away. Magical, power-giving fruits? Real? Well, if his theory was correct, he was in another world. He'd seen some pretty strange stuff himself anyway. Maybe here, Devil Fruits were as normal as chakra... but Luffy said he'd never heard of jutsu before.

"Tell me, old man," said Naruto, ignoring the sour look that crossed the shopkeeper's face, "you ever heard of chakra? Or jutsu?"

"Chakra? Jutsu? Never heard of it. And who're you calling old man?"

But Naruto ignored him, scared now. How could he have any hope of going back to his own time if there weren't even any jutsu here? Unless...

He turned to Luffy. "Hey, Luffy, what can these Devil Fruits do, anyway?"

Luffy smiled. "I don't know all of them, but my old friend Shanks told me there are hundreds, with all sorts of powers too! Devil Fruits can let you control fire, sand, all sorts of stuff! And it can change your body, like mine did, or it can make you be like an animal, like a wolf or a lion or a –"

"Okay, I get it." Naruto said. So... maybe there was some hope? If there was a Devil Fruit that let you change dimensions, maybe he could eat it, or find someone else who'd ate it and ask them to send him back... it wasn't much, but it was his best shot. "Luffy, when you set sail, are you gonna see more people with these Devil Fruit things?"

Luffy nodded. "Sure! I'm gonna have to look all around the world for the One Piece, after all!"

Naruto tensed. This was the first person he'd met who had any intention of leaving the island: it was his only hope. "Can I come with you?!"

Luffy stopped. Looked him up and down. Thought about it for a second. Naruto was sweating, waiting for his answer.

"Hmm... no."

END OF CHAPTER 1.


	2. II: Luffy Gets Some Convincing

**II: Luffy Gets Some Convincing**

"What – _no?!" _Naruto needed someone from this universe with him to navigate the waters of the world, since he didn't know how to get anywhere was in this place. 'Am I gonna have to beat him up?' he thought.

"Nope," Luffy said again.

"But – you should – I..." He tried to make a good case for himself joining the boy. "I offered! How many other people have _asked_ to join your crew?"

"None. Doesn't work like that. A captain chooses his crewmates, not the other way around." The rubber idiot smiled. "And I don't choose anyone to join my crew unless they're really strong, really cool, or both!"

Naruto resisted face-palming. He had a feeling that setting sail with this guy would be aggravating. But he had to persevere. "But... _I'm _strong and cool."

Luffy's eyes widened. "You are? I didn't even notice!"

Naruto resisted face-palming, yet again.

The rubbery boy held up a hand. "Wait! You have to show me first!" He pointed his thumb over his shoulder and said, "There's a forest a mile or so away. I can test your strength there!"

Naruto let out a shaky breath. He had a chance now, at least.

Luffy grinned and clasped his hands in anticipation. Now he could see just how strong this blond guy really was!

* * *

_/... in the forest.../_

"Okay! First, we'll test speed, then strength, then your cool abilities!"

"Nice," said Naruto unenthusiastically.

"Alright!" Luffy got down on one knee and prepared himself. "We're gonna race to see how fast you are! There's a really big tree a little far from here, just keep running forward and you can't miss it!"

Naruto got himself ready. The boy probably wasn't ninja-level speed, but who knows what other freaky powers he had? He still didn't fully understand the whole 'magical fruits' thing. The kid dug himself into the ground.

"Okay! Ready... set... GO!"

And they were off.

They raced straight ahead, Luffy clearly trying his very hardest.

'He is a little fast,' Naruto admitted to himself. Then he grinned. 'But I'm faster.'

They ran at full speed for about thirty metres before Naruto saw the tree – and it was indeed a big one. He looked back, and saw Luffy much too far behind to catch up. He smiled and hurried over to the huge tree, chuckling as he got close enough that its high leaves and branches shaded him from the Sun.

"Wait a minute!" cried Luffy.

Naruto saw a stretching arm shoot out from behind him. He watched in shock as it grabbed onto a low-lying branch and got a tight hold. Luffy was lifted off the ground as he was pulled to the tree by elastic force. Naruto raced forward but touched the tree an instant after Luffy's body slammed into it.

There was silence. Then...

"I WON! YEAH!"

Naruto sighed as Luffy pranced around in victory. "You were gonna win but then I stretched my arm and caught up at the last second! That was so cool!" Then he paused. "Hey... you're pretty fast, aren't you? No one on the island can race against me and almost win!"

Naruto finally grinned a little. He'd been annoyed about losing to what was almost cheating, in his mind, but the wanna-be pirate's joy was infectious. "So... did I pass?"

Luffy did a thumbs up. "Sure did! But now we have to do strength! Follow me!"

Soon they were standing in front of a bunch of boulders of all shapes and sizes. They'd apparently been casually carved out of the mountain by Luffy's grandfather one time. Naruto was now interested in Luffy's grandpa and Naruto's 'Grandma' Tsunade having a friendly arm wrestle; He figured it would be quite the spectacle.

"So," said Luffy, "lift the biggest one you can!"

Naruto considered all the possible sizes for a moment, then walked to one that was about twice as big as his body. He breathed deeply, steeled himself, and grabbed it tight. With a grunt, he lifted it off the floor. Slowly he moved it up over his head, and held it high. Just to really impress Luffy, he threw it as hard as he could and watched proudly as it landed a good ten feet away. He really had gotten stronger thanks to Jiraiya.

"So," he said turning around, "how do you like _that –_ WHAT?!"

Naruto looked as this _scrawny_ kid lifted a boulder twice the size of Naruto's with no apparent strain. In fact, the boy looked a bit put out.

"Is _that_ really all you can lift?" Luffy asked, unimpressed. "I guess ninjas should be fast, not strong, but still, I could lift that much since I was fifteen."

Naruto could barely believe what he was seeing; this kid was that amazingly strong, and he didn't even know what chakra _was?_ The blond ninja knew well from Rock Lee that you don't need chakra to be powerful, but still, this kid was insane.

"I – I just – how did you... never mind." Naruto resigned himself to his loss. "So, what's next on this test you're giving me – cool abilities, right?"

Luffy nodded. "You've already seen mine. Show me what you've got, Naruto!"

He needed to pull out all the stops. But, now that he thought of it, this should be easy. '_They don't even know what jutsu are around here!' _he thought suddenly. He turned to Luffy, now full of confidence, and smiled deviously.

"Try and hit me, Luffy," he said.

"Huh?" Luffy asked, turning his head curiously.

"Hit me! Doesn't have to be super-hard, but don't hold back either!"

Luffy blinked, then said, "Okay!"

Naruto watched as Luffy prepared his attack. For a second he was dumbfounded once again by the boy's strange abilities (Luffy stretched his arm back behind him about ten feet, making a fist) but he caught himself and made sure he was alert. Luffy's arm stopped at ten feet and sprung back towards Naruto like a rubber band.

"Gomo Gomu no Pistol!" shouted Luffy.

Naruto waited, then, at the very last instant, made a hand seal and shouted "Substitution Jutsu!" Luffy watched as the blonde got punched, straight in the gut, by his stretching fist – and then he wasn't.

A smaller boulder, one of the same they'd been lifting, exploded to pieces from Luffy's blow. Luffy was astounded; could Naruto turn into rock?! But, wait, the rock was completely destroyed... was he a murderer?!

And then he was tapped on the shoulder. He spun on his heel, quick as a whip, and saw Naruto staring at him!

"Heh heh... did I scare you–"

"How'd you do that?! Can you turn into stone? Or teleport? Or are you really a stone that can turn into a human?!"

Naruto laughed. "That was a jutsu!" he said. "A ninja technique that uses chakra. Basically I use chakra, which is just... energy, I guess, to make myself really fast for a short amount of time; then I move out of the way, get a boulder, and put it where your punch is! It can really throw you off guard!"

Luffy didn't even try to understand his explanation. "Your ninja magic is cool! What else can you do?"

Naruto sweat-dropped, then brushed it off. "Hmm... what to show you next..." He disappeared from Luffy's view, suddenly, and the soon-to-be pirate started looking around. He jumped as he heard the ninja's voice from behind: "There's the Body Flicker Jutsu."

Luffy turned and jumped away, startled. "You're FAST!"

"Only with Body Flicker," he chuckled. "It's basically Substitution Jutsu minus the actual substitution with another object... I just move really fast for a small amount of time."

"Whoaaaaa..." Luffy said, obviously not caring how it actually worked.

"Uh, yeah," Naruto replied, scratching his head, "... oh, and there's –" he made a hand seal – "Transformation Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke appeared around him, and it dissipated to show a clone of Monkey D. Luffy.

"Hey," Luffy exclaimed, "you're me now!"

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" shouted the clone in perfect imitation of the real Luffy.

"What?!" Luffy was appalled. "No you aren't, imposter!" He leaped at Naruto, who jumped to the side and cancelled the technique immediately.

"Calm down, Luffy!" he laughed. "Guess I'm too good at that one for my own good."

Luffy looked up at him with wide eyes. "You can change how you look too? What _can't _you do, ninja magician?!"

A tic appeared in Naruto's head. "IT'S NOT MAGIC, YOU IDIOT!" He sighed and calmed himself down, wondering if this was how others felt dealing with him sometimes. "Anyway, those aren't even my best! Now I'm gonna show you my two best techniques!"

Luffy jumped up and down eagerly. "Really? What are they?"

Naruto smiled. "First... Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five copies of the blond dimension-hopper appeared before them.

"Whoa!" Luffy cried, stars in his eyes.

"Yep," one of them said, "most people can only make illusions of clones, but mine are solid!" The clone patted his chest demonstratively.

"Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed, and immediately began poking each of the clones, 'ooh'-ing and 'ah'-ing. He kept doing this for almost a straight minute until it ticked Naruto off too much.

"I'm the real one, stupid!" he said as he was poked in the chest for the fifth time.

"Oh." Luffy stopped. "Sorry."

Naruto reminded himself to be very patient since he was going to need a ride to get back to his world. "Anyway, now it's time for my ultimate jutsu." He held out his hand, and all but one of the Shadow Clones disappeared. It immediately started shaping chakra around his outstretched hand, moving its hands around in a spherical shape. Eventually, the gathered energy became a visible ball of shining, swirling blue chakra. He turned toward the mountain and ran at it.

"Rasengan!" He thrust the ball at the mountain and a small explosion happened when it met its target. Naruto pulled his hand back and showed a giant, deep hole in the rock. Pebbles rained down from the air.

"WHOA!" Stars appeared in Luffy's eyes as he gaped at the destruction Naruto's attacks had caused. "That's AWESOME!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile. "I know, right? So can I join your -"

"WELCOME ABOARD!"

* * *

_/... later.../_

"This is my boat!"

Naruto stared at the dingy little thing. "You... you're joking, right?"

"Nope!" Luffy patted the wooden paddle boat. "Made this thing myself! Don't worry, it floats! I had to test it, since my Devil Fruit means if this thing sinks, I do too."

Naruto was happy for some reassurance, but still could barely imagine sailing anywhere in the thing. It was a rickety old paddle boat with curving edges coming out of the front and back of it. Considering Luffy had built it, Naruto thought it looked pretty good... for fishing, maybe. Not for sailing around the world looking for treasure "Uh... we're going in this?"

"Uh huh! I know we'll have to get a bigger ship soon, but for just the two of us this is fine!" Luffy smiled as if everything was right in the world.

Naruto decided not to burst the kid's bubble just yet. "Yeah... well, we'll figure it out when we get there, but first things first: before we go anywhere, I have to train!"

Luffy frowned. "Train? Why? You've got all your ninja magic-jutsu stuff."

Naruto looked at him determinedly. "Luffy, are you the only person around here who's as physically strong as you are?"

Luffy shook his head. "On this island, there's Gramps, and I don't know if anyone's who can lift as much as him. But even he says that around the world, there's other people who can throw buildings and break mountains."

Naruto paled. _What the hell is with this world?! _He thought. _They've never heard of chakra, but they can get as strong as Tsunade-baa-chan without using it? _

"Well, I've got an idea, Luffy."

"What's that?"

"In my world, it's basically impossible to become that strong just by working out normally," he said, "but it seems possible in this world. Hopefully, since I'm in your world now, I'll be able to get stronger too!"

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "So you're gonna train just to get physically stronger?" he asked. "You sure you really need to?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm sure it'll come in handy when we finally set sail."

Luffy jumped up, smiling and pumping his fists in the air. "ALL RIGHT!" he said happily. "I'll be your personal trainer until you're strong enough to set sail with me! We'll get you in tip-top shape in a month! From now on, just call me _LUFFY-SENSEI!_"

Naruto hung his head down in sadness. It was going to be a very long month.

END OF CHAPTER 2.


	3. III: Straw Hat Pirates Setting Off

**III: Setting Off**

_/... one month later.../_

"Naru-_tooo_, this is taking too long," Luffy whined quietly.

Naruto shushed him. "Just be patient! We don't want to make a ruckus and have to deal with your grandpa, do we?"

That shut Luffy up.

And then Naruto and Luffy watched in the shadows as his Shadow Clones did their work.

He'd made five of them and had them transform into scantily-clad, attractive women who looked just different enough from him not to raise suspicion. In the past month he'd become well-known among most islanders as the _other _crazy kid who trained till he dropped, was as strong as an elephant on steroids, and wanted to leave the island to go 'adventuring.'

Which was what they were about to do. Naruto had been busting his brain trying to find a better way to leave the island than on Luffy's paddle boat, and, just today, a Marine ship had come calling for Monkey D. Garp, who the World Government apparently needed urgently (not that Luffy or Naruto cared).

He watched the Transformed Clones trying to entice as many Marines off the ship as possible, but he could see his charm wasn't working on most lof them.

"Why don't you big, strong warriors of the sea let us show you around?" asked the red-haired clone, fluttering his (or _her_, whatever) eyelids in a way Naruto would never do personally.

"Ma'am, we're going to have to say no to that," said a Marine who was obviously cursing the words coming out of his mouth, "we have strict orders to stay on-board and take Vice-Admiral Garp to his destination –"

"Aw, come on, don't you boys ever have any _fun?_" asked the blond one who looked most like Naruto. She even pushed out her chest a little, smirking invitingly at the Marines.

"Boss, I think a couple of us could go with 'em," said a man tentatively. "I'm sure they wouldn't keep us away for too long, would you, girls?"

"Oh, no, we'd _never,_ unless you have something we could do that would take long... we do have _all night, _don't we?"

The captain gulped. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but for the last time..."

"Screw it, this is taking too long," Naruto whispered. He raised his hand from his and Luffy's perch in the tree and made the signal to his clones. All five of them saw it and knew just what to do.

"Sexy Jutsu!"

Luffy and Naruto jumped down and rushed on the Marine ship, taking advantage of the enemy's blood loss.

"That works every time, Naruto! I think they're all out cold!" Luffy exclaimed.

Naruto didn't stop to accept the praise. "Alright, throw 'em off, we don't know how soon your gramps will get here!"

While Luffy and the real Naruto scrambled to clear out Marines on the deck that were taken out momentarily by his attack, his clones dropped the jutsu and rushed deeper into the ship, taking out the rest. Naruto marvelled at how he could now easily lift three and throw them all over the side to the shore; he still wasn't as strong as Luffy, but they'd definitely made progress over the last month... not that he'd enjoyed the gruelling weight lifting everyday or having his hand nearly broken in an arm wrestle in just the first week.

In a minute flat, they'd taken out thirty Marines and raised the sails, ready to high-tail out of there.

"AHOY!" Luffy shouted. "ALL HAIL THE STRAW HAT PIRATES! SETTING SAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY – hey, ow!"

"Shut up and help me sail this thing!" Naruto scolded, but he still had a scared look on his face thinking about Garp: The first time he'd been bonked on the head by Luffy's grandfather, he'd been out cold for a day. The old man was Tsunade's frigging soul mate.

And soon, the two were off. Naruto had forced Luffy to take sailing lessons with him when he found out the boy wanted to be a pirate and barely knew how to row a boat. It wasn't that hard, and it helped that he could use Shadow Clones to learn sailing while he trained elsewhere. The two of them sailed and sailed, subtly changing direction every now and then. The waves splashed audibly and they wore themselves out with the hard work.

Then eventually, they stopped. They realised they could barely see Dawn Island on the horizon behind them anymore. It was silent around them except for the waves and the breeze; they were so far the angry shouting of the Marines they'd beat up couldn't reach their ears.

It hit them. They'd done it.

"YOSH!"

"WE _DID IT_, DATTEBAYO!"

* * *

_/One hour later.../_

"No way is that gonna be our Jolly Roger."

Naruto now knew Monkey D. Luffy much better than he did when he'd first met him; he knew of his love for meat; he knew all the things he could do with the Gomu Gomu no Mi; he knew the boy's grandfather and he'd heard about his brother; he even knew how Luffy first got his straw hat and the motivation to be the Pirate King.

Now he knew something else: the boy was a terrible artist.

"I think it looks great," Luffy huffed and turned the other way.

"That's cause you have the artistic mind of a four-year-old," replied Naruto dryly. "Gimme that paint."

Being Konoha's local prankster had some unexpected benefits. One was that, after so many years of working with it, Naruto knew how to use paint well. He swirled the brush around, worked hard and soon was done.

His design was simply a much better version of Luffy's: the classic pirate ship's skull-and-crossbones design, but with one change: a straw hat, based off of Luffy's, sitting atop the skull's head.

"Now _that's _a Jolly Roger," he said proudly when his work was done. He made a Shadow Clone and handed it the flag. "Go tie this up and take the Marine flag down." Then he was startled by an exclamation.

"Hey!" Luffy said. "I see a ship through my telescope!"

"You're just cupping your hands around your eye, aren't you?"

Luffy didn't reply.

Naruto sweat-dropped.

"But I really _do _see a ship, over there!"

Now he had to look up. He walked over to where Luffy was and squinted. "Hey, you're right!" He took out an actual telescope he'd found while searching the cabins (ignoring Luffy's plea to get him one too) and looked through it. "Hmm... interesting."

"Should we stare clear of 'em? Is grandpa on it?" Luffy questioned him, grabbing at the telescope.

"No. It's another pirate ship."

"Oh. Cool. Should we go say hi or something?"

"I wouldn't do that myself," said Naruto, "but it looks like they're coming to say hi to _us._"

* * *

"SOMEONE DARES TO ENTER _MY_ TERRITORY?!" roared a huge woman as her crew cowered in fear. "What is their Jolly Roger?! Tell me who dares approach me!"

One of her crewmen fumbled nervously with a telescope before finally peering through. "It... it's a Jolly Roger with a... straw hat on it?"

"A straw hat?" 'Iron Mace' Alvida had never heard of such a Jolly Roger... but that meant... "... A _ROOKIE _PIRATE IS IN MY TERRITORY?!"

Again, her crew jumped at her outburst. "W-what should we do, Alvida-sama?"

"DESTROY THEM, THAT'S WHAT!"

* * *

"Hmm... I think they're close enough now," Naruto said. He made a few clones, telling them to watch over the ship.

"Really? Let's go, then!" Luffy cheered, visibly excited. He started to stretch back, but Naruto stopped him.

"Hey, throw me first!" He said quickly.

Luffy grinned, then grabbed Naruto by the shoulders. Naruto braced himself as Luffy lifted him off the floor and stretched him back behind his head. Further, further, _further..._ then he stopped stretching.

"Gomu Gomu no Slingshot!"

Naruto sailed through the air like a bird, and he had to laugh as he smelled the salty sea air and felt the wind run through his hair wildly. Quickly though, he realised he'd overshot his target; the pirate's ship was fast approaching but his flight showed no signs of slowing anytime soon; if he kept going he'd shoot right over the ship!

He had to think fast and time it perfectly... the ship was rapidly approaching... it was getting closer and closer... now it was practically underneath him!

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two clones appeared beside him and, quick as a whip, they caught him and redirected his flight straight _down_. He fell down towards the ship, and he saw the amazed faces of its crew as he dive-bombed them. He steeled himself as well as he could for the drop down, then...

_BAM! _

... Ouch. He realised as he opened his eyes that he'd went straight through the main deck, leaving a huge hole. He shook his pain off and dusted off his clothes, wondering why he found himself falling painfully from the sky so often these days. He looked around and saw he was in a room full of barrels; probably filled with sake from the smell of it. He got up and readied to jump back up to the main deck.

"AAAAAH!"Naruto jumped and turned in bewilderment, stunned at what he saw; a kid was onboard the ship!

"What are _you _doing on a pirate ship?!" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"AAAAAH!"

"Are they holding you captive? Did I hurt you when I fell? What's going on?"

"AAAAAH!"

"Are you going to talk to me at all?!"

"AAAAAA –" _SMACK. _"... ouch."

The boy, who was short, bespectacled and pink-haired (reminding Naruto painfully of a certain female from his own world), stopped screaming to rub his face, red from the slap Naruto gave him to calm down.

"Are we good now?" The boy nodded. "Good."

Suddenly, Naruto heard a _whump_ from above them, up on the main deck: Luffy had arrived. He heard gunshots and swords being drawn from up above, as the crewmen were apparently out of the shock Naruto's dive-bombing stunt had induced. He was worried for a second, before realising bullets wouldn't hurt Luffy anyway and shrugging, deciding to leave his friend on his own. Besides, he needed to get down to business, so he turned to the boy.

"So, kid – what's your name?"

The boy muttered something frightfully.

"Sorry?"

"C-C-Coby, mister p-pirate, sir," whispered the boy, clearly scared out of his mind.

"Hey, come on, don't call me _sir. _Makes me feel old." Coby looked up incredulously at the invader who seemed so casual and non-threatening. "See, we came on this ship for a _map, _Coby."

"A m-map?" the boy stuttered again.

"Yeah... it's kind of funny, you know..." Naruto rubbed his head, embarrassed, as he explained that he and Luffy hadn't thought of getting a map of the East Blue before they'd set off as pirates. "... so, yeah," he said when he'd finished the story, "but it's pretty much my fault, my friend can't be expected to think of these things. I don't think he's ever planned out anything in his life... but anyway, do you have one?" He ended off his story and looked at Coby expectantly.

"Uh... w-what was the question again?"

"Do you have a map of the East Blue on board? Or even just a map of the general area?"

Before Coby could answer, some of this ship's crew busted through the door, swords brandished and pointed forward menacingly. "Come on and fight us like your weird friend up there is!"

Naruto smiled; they'd probably ran from Luffy once they saw he had a Devil Fruit and came to fight him now, thinking it'd be easier...

He almost felt sorry for them.

"Heh. Okay." He didn't even bother to dodge as a sword was swung in his direction... he waited till the last moment, then: "Substitution!"

The man's sword sank into a barrel where Naruto had been. Naruto's attacker watched in confusion as sake started pouring out the barrel. "What just happened?!"

"Behind you!" rang out Naruto's voice.

"Huh?!" The man was stopped from turning to face his opponent when he was grabbed and thrown into the surrounding barrels as if he were light as a feather.

Naruto turned towards the others and counted. _'One, two, three, four, five, six... at least six of them.' _He smirked. "Don't you think six on one is a little uneven in the odds, guys?"

"For you, maybe," another one of them said, confident that the boy was trying to talk his way out of death.

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "We'll see how you like it... Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The room was filled with a swarm of clones. Naruto made sure the odds were at least six to one in _his_ favour.

"Aw, this guy has a Devil Fruit too!" They looked at the crowd of blond fighters that now faced them. "Run for it!"

Naruto shook his head as he watched them leave. He turned to Coby. "Let's go see what my partner in crime is up to on the main deck... and you can tell me how you ended up on a pirate ship while we're at it."

The boy played with his hands nervously. "Well... basically I went out fishing and then accidentally ended up on a pirate ship."

Naruto looked at him, wide-eyed. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" cried Coby. "I've been trying to secretly build a boat to sail away by myself for the past two years, but Alvida-sama, the captain of the ship, is keeping me here as a caretaker. I've been studying the area nearby so I know just where to go if I manage to escape." But then, the boy literally started shaking; he broke into a cold sweat before Naruto's eyes. "But when I think of Alvida-sama finding out I ran away... I just get so _scared!"_

Naruto wasn't sure if Alvida was really dangerous or the kid was just a wimp. "Is this 'Alvida' person really so scary?" he asked sceptically as the two walked up the stairs to the main deck.

"Yes!" Coby nodded feverishly. "She's faster and stronger than anyone I've ever seen before with her favourite weapon, a huge iron mace! She's cruel and mean and loud and huge and the most scary, dangerous person I've ever –"

"Gomu Gomu no _Pistol!__"_

Naruto and Coby had arrived on the main deck in time to see rather spectacular sight of 'Iron Mace' Alvida sent flying through the air by Luffy's elastic knockout punch. Naruto had to really stop and appreciate that Luffy sent something that heavy in the air.

"Alvida-sama!" came the shocked cries of her entire crew, not believing she could truly be downed by one hit. They waited for any word for her in stunned, anxious silence.

Naruto chose that moment to Body Flicker over. The crew jumped as the blond teen seemed to appear out of thin air next to their tyrannical captain's enemy.

Naruto looked down at her for a second, seeing if she was really done for; he kicked her in the side inquisitively, and the entire crew gasped at his fearlessness.

"Yep!" he announced, "She's out for the count." The crewmates reacted to the news in different ways; some looked at Luffy with renewed terror; others looked with admiration or relief; and others still were simply stunned to silence.

"Right!" said Luffy, and everyone shouted again at this powerful boy's words. "Now that we dealt with this stupid hag here, you guys are gonna listen to us! Now drop your swords, surrender, and give us what we came here for!" He stopped his tirade suddenly and looked over at Naruto, confused. "What did we come for again?"

Naruto once again resisted the urge to face-palm, which seemed ever present around Monkey D. Luffy. "Yeah, it's okay, we don't need it anymore." He pointed to the side; the crowd parted between his fingers anxiously until they showed the nonplussed caretaker that was Coby. "That guy's gonna be our map! We're taking him off this ship with us, so he's under _our _protection! Remember that!" As soon as he said it everyone took a weary step away from Coby, who was now stunned.

"You guys... you're taking me with you?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep. You said you've studied the area, right? Do you think you could take us to the nearest island to here?"

Coby nodded eagerly with wide eyes. "Y-yeah, sure! 'Course I could!"

Naruto laughed. "Alright!" He turned to Luffy. "Throw us back over to our ship, Luffy! We got ourselves a map!"

END OF CHAPTER 3.


	4. IV: Monster Among Men

**IV: Monster Among Men**

Naruto leant leisurely against the side of their ship, arms folded behind his head. "I don't know, Luffy, this Zoro guy sounds like bad news. I don't know if he'd be good for the crew." Coby definitely seemed scared about meeting him, not that that was saying much.

"I haven't decided if I want him on the crew yet. But if he's a good guy, I'll ask him to join!" Luffy said with a smile on his face.

Naruto shrugged and turned to watch his Shadow Clones. He'd made fifty; four to conduct the general sailing of the ship and forty-six to practice cutting leaves with his wind chakra. He'd _just_ began his Shadow Clone training with Kakashi before he'd fell out of the sky and landed in this strange world. He'd at least gotten the gist of it; train with lots of Shadow Clones and you'll master techniques faster. The bad news was, he had no one to instruct him now. The good news was, that meant improvising. And he was good at that.

Since apparently chakra was unheard of in this world (though he could hardly believe it didn't exist; people just didn't know how to use it here, he supposed), he had to conduct his training himself. He figured that once he could cut leaves with ease, he'd move on to rocks and stuff... maybe try to make a tornado or something. He really had no idea what to do next, but the idea of coming up with his own original wind jutsu excited him.

"The island's coming up, guys," Coby chimed up from further on the ship. Naruto had made some clones repaint the ship so it looked less like a Marine vessel; he doubted any passing Marines would be happy to see one of their ships with a Jolly Roger instead of their flag. His clones took note of Coby's directions while Luffy used the telescope (which he'd finally stolen from under Naruto's nose) and the Naruto resorted to squinting. If he looked really hard, he could see the outline of the island... far, far away. He sighed. More time for training, at least.

_/... An hour later.../_

"Yeah!" Naruto and Luffy both whooped for joy. "We're finally at the island! You're great, Coby!"

Coby chuckled at the praise. "Haha, thanks! I thought you guys might be mad when you saw what this place was, you being pirates and all..."

"Huh?" Naruto stopped and left Luffy to cheer on his own, finally examining his new surroundings... houses; normal. Random people; fine. Then he looked up; a three-story, striped and oddly-shaped building... but what was that written on it? He read out the insignia on the building and swore. "CRAP! You took us to a MARINE BASE?!"

Luffy stopped dancing and Coby started sweating. "Uh, sorry, I forgot to tell you, that's what this place is. And that's why Roronoa Zoro's here – rumour has it he got caught by the law and he's locked up here!"

Naruto was about to chew Coby out when Luffy started running off. "Zoro's at the Marine Base?! Let's go see him!" And he was gone in a flash, leaving a cloud of smoke from the ground he trod on. Naruto stared after him.

Then, he looked at Coby. Coby looked at him.

"Shit," the two chorused.

They ran off in pursuit of their dim-witted friend.

* * *

"It looks pretty ugly up close," Luffy remarked as he jumped up to peek over the wall.

"Luffy-san!" Coby whispered, clearly panicking. "I saw a notice on the streets, someone called Lieutenant Morgan is here at the base! They've got a _Lieutenant!"_ he stressed worriedly.

Luffy completely ignored him. "A monster among men, huh? Where_ is_ Roronoa Zoro?"

Naruto was starting to get worried. He wondered if Lieutenants were weaker or stronger than Vice-Admirals – if they were stronger, then considering Luffy's grandpa, they were in some trouble. "We should go, Luffy. You probably won't find him that easily anyway –"

"Hey, I saw something over there!" Luffy dropped from the wall and took off to the left, running around the base's perimeter. Naruto and Coby followed, the latter fretfully lagging behind. Eventually Luffy stopped and hopped on the fence to look again. Coby and Naruto jumped up to look this time as well, only for Coby to fall back down in fright.

"What is it, Coby?" asked Naruto, startled.

"T-T-Th-That's h-him!" He said from the ground. "That's Roronoa Zoro! The black bandana! And that e-evil aura! It _has _to be him!"

Naruto and Luffy both looked back at the man. He did indeed have a black bandana, and his downturned face was mostly unseen; the 'monster among men' was tied to two poles: one was thick, sticking out of the ground, with his abdomen bound to it with ropes. The second was a thinner one going across his back horizontally, his arms slung over it and tied tightly.

"Those ropes don't look too hard to break," Luffy remarked.

"S-Stop joking, Luffy-san!" Coby whispered again. "If you let him go, he might even be able to kill _you!_"

"Hey!" A deep, ragged voice suddenly rang out. The three of them stopped talking, startled.

"He t-t-talked..." Coby whispered.

Indeed, he had. The foreboding man looked up and smiled, trying to seem inviting. "Could you come untie me over here? I've been tied up for nine days now. I'll pay you back for it! If you let me free, I'll hunt down fugitives and give you the rewards on their heads... and I always keep my promises."

Coby was in hysterics. "Don't listen to him, guys! D-Don't let his words fool you, h-he's a cold-blooded _k-killer!"_

Luffy didn't seem at all affected. "Don't worry, he can't kill us," he said calmly.

Naruto nodded in assent, grinning a little. "We're too strong to be killed by one starving, exhausted bounty hunter."

Suddenly, their talk was interrupted as a ladder slapped on the wall beside them. They turned their heads and watched in awe as a little girl who couldn't be older than eight climbed over the wall and calmly walked over to the tied up assassin, carrying a plate of rice balls with her.

When she got close, she smiled and thrust the plate out in at the roped man. "Here you go! I made rice balls for the first time today, to give them to you! You must be really hungry after so many days tied up!"

But Roronoa wasn't having any of it. "I don't want it! Go away!" he snarled.

The girl looked hurt. "But..." she started.

"I'll kill you if you don't leave!" shouted Zoro. "Just go!"

Naruto was about to protest at the man's callousness towards such a sweet, caring little girl when another man walked in from the other side of the place. He wore a pristine-looking suit and sported one of the most ridiculous bowl haircuts ever seen.

"Roronoa Zoro!" he called tauntingly. "Don't pick on little kids, or I'll have to tell my father about it!"

The pirate hunter snarled, but said nothing to this new person.

"Oh? I'm not important enough to talk to? Do you realise that I'm the Marine Lieutenant's son?!" Naruto immediately didn't like the man's prissy arrogance and obvious overconfidence. The tall, but scrawny man turned to the girl. "Ooh, is that rice balls you have there? Mind if I have a taste?" he asked greedily, but despite the girl's protests, he immediately snatched one out of the plate and took a bite. He quickly started choking, spitting out the rice balls and stomping them into floor, shouting something about 'too much salt.' By the end of his tirade, the little girl was in tears.

Naruto was about ready to jump over and teach the bastard a lesson when he actually ordered his guard to throw the girl out. She sailed through the air, over the fence, but was luckily caught by Luffy. Naruto watched as he heard Zoro tell the man to 'keep his promise.' The man said he would, and then Naruto was startled to hear the details of the promise – if Zoro could live tied up like that for a whole month he would be set free! It was insane to even try surviving like that, but the worst part was Naruto had doubts that the slimy son of a lieutenant even knew what 'promise' meant. The Lieutenant's son then walked out of the place, his Marine guards trailing behind him.

After Luffy set the girl down, he quickly hopped the wall himself. After a moment of being startled, Naruto followed – he wasn't missing any possible action.

"Hey," said Zoro, "you're still here? Why don't you beat it before he tells his dad or something?"

"I don't really care about that," Luffy said. "But I _am_ looking for someone to join my pirate crew."

Zoro coughed, a sour look on his face. "So you decided to be a crook of the sea, huh?"

The statement didn't sit well with Luffy. "Hey, I'm following my dream! There's nothing wrong with being a pirate!"

Zoro smiled bitterly. "So you're going to set me free and try to force me to join you, huh?"

"I haven't decided yet. Everyone seems to think you're a bad guy but that little girl."

Zoro laughed sardonically. "_I'm_ the bad guy, huh, pirate? I'll never join you, or your little friend here," he said, nodding at Naruto, "cause I have things to do on my own. I'll survive here for a month and then get set free. Now scram!"

Naruto scrunched his eyebrows. "Do you really think bowl-head' over there's gonna keep his word even if you _do _last a month?" he asked sceptically.

Zoro coughed again, determination and desperation in his eyes all at the same time. "He'd better keep it," he said eventually. And that was all he seemed ready to say.

At that, pirate and ninja turned around to leave, but Zoro stopped them at once.

"Wait!" he called. "Can – can you pick that up for me?"

Naruto looked down, bemused. "The rice ball? But it's all muddy and gross now!"

"Just give it to me," Zoro ordered, opening his mouth wide. Luffy tossed the rice ball in his gaping mouth and they watched as Zoro struggled and fought a hard battle in keeping the food down. He looked at them when he was done. "Okay, tell that girl: '_The rice balls were delicious. Thank you very much.'_"

* * *

"He really ate it all up?" asked the little girl with wide eyes and a smile.

"Yep!" said Luffy. "He said thanks too!"

Coby looked thoughtful. "Is he really the unstoppable monster the rumours say he is?"

"No!" cried the girl instantly. "He's not a monster at all! Helmeppo, that dirty son of the Lieutenant, let his pet wolf run wild and scare everybody, so Zoro killed it!"

"So that bastard tied him to that pole for a month just 'cause he killed his pet?" Naruto asked. He kept on finding new reasons to hate this slimeball.

"Yes! He's not a monster! The only monsters in this island are the Morgans! If anyone stands up to them, they get executed!"

Suddenly another voice rang out in the square. "Who dares to raise his head?! I'll tell my father about this!"

They turned and saw Helmeppo walking down the street, armed guards surrounding him. All the villagers in the open knelt before them as the walked, heads down. Naruto glared darkly.

"Do you people want to be like Roronoa Zoro?!" Helmeppo called to them. "I'm publicly executing him tomorrow!"

"What?" cried Luffy. "I thought you were letting him go after a month!"

Naruto's hands clenched into fists as he knew what the man's answer would be.

"Let him go?" Helmeppo cawed gleefully. "Why would I do that? Only an idiot would –" SMACK!

Luffy had moved to attack the man, but Naruto had Body Flickered over to him before he even finished his sentence. He looked up and saw the man bleeding on the ground.

Coby was panicking again; the crowd was going crazy. "Luffy-san, Naruto-san, stop! You don't want to make enemies of the Marines!"

"I've decided," Luffy said quietly, held back by Coby and staring darkly at the man on the floor. "I want Zoro on my crew!"

Naruto looked around at the crowd... shock, fear and amazement was etched on every face.

"Y-you dare hit _me?!"_ cried Helmeppo angrily. "Not even my father hits me!"

Something in Naruto snapped. "Would you just SHUT UP about your stupid DAD?!" he roared.

It was silent all around after he said that. You could've heard a pin drop for miles around. Helmeppo petulantly rose himself up, and screamed "MY FATHER IS LIEUTENANT MORGAN! I'LL TELL HIM ABOUT THIS, YOU CAN BE SURE OF IT!"

He was carried away by his guards, who both snuck a weary glance at the blond who'd dared to anger the Lieutenant's son. The crowd, clearly terror-stricken, cleared from the scene as quickly as possible. Soon, only the little girl remained, admiration etched on her face.

"'You two were so cool!" she said. "You stood up to the Morgans! Don't mind everyone else, they're just scared –"

_"Rika!"_

The girl turned. A woman who looked quite a lot like the little girl beckoned to her worriedly. "Come here, Rika! If you stay near them you'll be executed too!"

"But mom, they're not bad!" she protested.

"Don't be silly, Rika, come with me!" And Rika was led away by her fretful mother, taking one last glance back at Naruto and Luffy. Luffy waved at the girl as she walked away.

When she was out of sight, Coby let out the panic he'd been feeling since the whole incident started. "Oh, no! We're in _big _trouble now! How are we gonna get out of this alive?! Is he really gonna call his dad? We have to get out of –" _SMACK._

Naruto looked down at Coby exasperatedly. "How many times am I gonna have to do that to you?"

Luffy, meanwhile, seemed as relaxed as if the whole thing never happened. "We can worry about Marines later. I'm gonna go see Zoro again!"

"Yeah," Naruto consented. "We need to tell him the truth about this bastard. Let's go."

* * *

"Hey!" Luffy raised his hand in greeting, Naruto beside him and Coby trailing behind reluctantly.

"You again?" grunted Zoro. "I told you, I'm not being a pirate!"

"See, I'm gonna loosen these ropes," said Luffy as if he'd heard nothing, "and then you're gonna join me, okay?"

Zoro was adamant. "No! Don't you listen?! Get out of here!"

Naruto stared at him with more serious eyes than Luffy's. "We're your only chance at living, Zoro. That bastard Helmeppo told us he wasn't going to let you free no matter how long you last. In fact, he's having you executed soon."

Zoro was shaken. "What? No. That can't be true... he said... he said _one month._ He has to let me free..."

"He _won't!" _Naruto said firmly, grabbing the swordsman by the shoulders. "It's true. He said it with a dirty little smile on his face. If you don't come with us, you're not going anywhere."

Zoro's eyes bored into Naruto's for a tense moment. Naruto willed the swordsman to see he was telling the truth, and glared right back.

Suddenly, Luffy broke the silence. "Hey! You can use katana, right?"

Zoro stopped their battle of wills, looking at him dryly. "When I'm not tied up I can," he agreed dryly.

"Where is this katana?" Luffy asked him curiously.

"That bastard took it from me. It's my most precious belonging in the world, and it's probably hanging up on a wall somewhere gathering dust!" he said angrily.

In that moment, Naruto realised what Luffy planned to do. The blond smiled mischievously. "You say you never break your word, right?" Zoro nodded. "Well... you know, we can always get that katana back for you."

Zoro's eyes lit up with interest. "What?"

Luffy nodded. "We'll go get your katana back for you. But if you want us to give it up, _you_ have to join my crew!"

Zoro stared, realising their attempt at blackmail. "Hey! You can't to that! It's unfair!"

But the two were already running off in the direction of the Marine base, grinning at their clever plan. They scaled the wall and disappeared, leaving him alone again to brood. He stared at the spot where they'd jumped over the wall.

"Hmph," he grumbled into the silence. "What complete idiots."

* * *

**AN:**

**So, time for the first Author's Note! Never really done one of these before, so I'll just jump right in...**

**First of all, I'm really happy about the reception this fanfic has been getting. 41 favourites and 48 followers three chapters in?! In terms of favourites and follows, this is off to a better start than I was expecting for sure. And thanks for the reviews as well guys! It really makes me feel special and gives me motivation to keep writing when you guys tell me what you like about the story. But if you see any flaws in the story or have any questions about it, don't hesitate to mention it at all! I've already got a couple PMs questioning things I hadn't even considered before hand! Constructive criticism and inquiry helps me make the story, better so keep it coming guys!**

**Second, on the subject of strength: As I showed early in this chapter, Naruto was transported to the world of One Piece in the 'Hidan and Kakuzu' arc, right when he started Shadow Clone-enhanced training with Kakashi, but before he mastered the element of Wind. He's gonna be taking longer to master Wind Chakra than he did in canon because of two main reasons:  
1.) He has no one to train him, so he'll have to improvise. This means he'll come up with original techniques, but he'll alsotake longer to master Wind chakra.  
2.) He's not trying to master Wind as hard as he was in canon: he has more pressing things on his mind this time around, like adventuring with Luffy and getting back home.**

**Also, because of the exact time Naruto got sent to One Piece, he has no Rasenshuriken, no Sage Mode and can't control Kyuubi chakra. For now, at least.**

**...wow, that was longer than I'd planned... I think I'll end this here. Again, thanks for reading, reviewing and everything in between. Tell me what you think about the chapter!**


	5. V: The Defeat of Lieutenant Morgan

**V: The Defeat of Lieutenant Morgan**

"This is weird," Luffy said into the silence. "Where are all the Marines? Are they having a meeting or something?"

Naruto shrugged and kept darting his eyes around, on the lookout for witnesses to their infiltration. "It's better if they don't see us anyway. Only question now is, how do we get in discreetly?"

He paused as he saw Luffy looking up at the top of the Base thoughtfully.

Naruto smiled. "Think you could get us up there?"

Luffy grabbed the blond tightly with an arm that supernaturally stretched around Naruto's whole body. "Sure! Just hang on!" Luffy crouched slightly, then threw up his arm, stretching it all the way up. Higher and higher and higher... finally it reached the edge of the roof, which it grabbed hold of tightly. Luffy grinned widely.

"Gomu Gomu no... Rocket!"_  
_

True to the name he'd come up with, the two quickly rocketed all the way up. Naruto whooped a little at the sudden speed; he felt like he was flying! But a problem quickly presented itself – when he and Luffy let go of the roof, they kept on going up! They saw a huge statue on the roof, ropes attached to it, and with nothing else to do, they bounced into it, hard. It stopped their ascent, but they then realised the statue wasn't rooted to the ground! The ropes had been to pull it up, but their bumping into it made it tip back. They somersaulted in the air on the rebound and dropped, landing gracefully on their feet. The statue, however, wasn't as lucky as them. It tipped over, slowly at first, but then built up more and more momentum and –

_CRASH!_

It was broken to smithereens. Nothing remained of the stone monument but rubble and boulders, and it was all their fault. The two turned to face the other people on the roof.

A huge, beefy man with a plate of metal over his jaw looked on at them, teeth clenched in fury. He had an axe sticking out of his hand – _'Axe-Arm Morgan,'_ Naruto realised – and he looked at the head of the statue, which was still mostly intact, and saw that the thing they'd destroyed was a _monument _to him.

Naruto and Luffy stared at the Marines. The Marines stared at Luffy and Naruto. The blond was at a complete loss for words and Luffy summed it up a bit better than he could at the moment.

The rubber man raised his hand tentatively. "Uh... sorry."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"_GET THEM!" _shouted a man with an axe for a hand and weird metal around his jaw. "I'LL _KILL _THEM!"

Helmeppo, Naruto belatedly realised, was on the scene as well, pointing at the blond accusingly. "_THAT'S _HIM, DAD! HE HIT ME! I TOLD YOU HE WAS NO GOOD!"

Luffy stretched out a hand and grabbed the whining man by the collar, pulling him back to him and keeping him in a rough grip. "I'll get the sword!" he said, and raced off into the tower.

Naruto nodded, eyeing the Marines – especially the tall one with an axe on his arm. "Sure... I can take these guys."

* * *

_/... with Zoro and Coby.../_

"I'll get you out of these ropes, Zoro-san!"

"What are you doing?" Zoro said. "Don't you realise they'll kill you for helping me?"

"But you don't deserve to die!" cried Coby with a determined look on his face. "And I won't die here! I'll live my dream as a Marine, just like Luffy will be Pirate King and – AH!"

Zoro looked around. A bang had sounded and the boy was on the floor, blood rapidly staining his shirt. He'd been shot. "Get out of here, kid! They're definitely on the way now!"

"No!" said Coby, trying to lift himself off the ground. "I'll get you out of those ropes first!"

Then, they heard the clicks of guns and realised they were not alone.

Marines stood before them, guns at the ready. "PREPARE TO DIE, CRIMINALS!"

* * *

Up on the roof, Naruto was a bit surprised.

He knew that his training had been intense – he _remembered_ the soul-breaking, aching stress it put on his body – but he was still stunned. This was the first real fight he'd gotten into with anyone that was a little challenging, and he finally had to try a little to fend off the horde of Marines fighting him... honestly, he was like a bulldozer. Everywhere he swung and threw, dozens of Marine fodder dropped to the floor, flattened and injured. He made just five clones and faced off with the many, _many _Marines up on the roof. Quite frankly, it was a slaughter.

But then there was the matter of Axe-Arm Morgan. He was a tall, tanned, absurdly muscular man with veins in his neck and murder in his eyes. The axe, true to the man's nickname, stuck right out of the right arm, and the handle of the thing pushed gruesomely against the skin of his elbow.

Naruto cracked his knuckles; he'd seen worse.

The man glared at him, baring his teeth like an animal. "You and your friend... you'll both pay."

Naruto's eyelids drooped, unimpressed; he _was_ being a bit melodramatic. He said, "...It's just a statue, dude."

At this, Morgan exploded. "_DIE, CRIMINAL!_" He charged madly at the blond, who held his ground till the very last second.

Naruto sidestepped Morgan's axe swing, feeling the wind it generated brush at him. He jumped about five feet back in one bound, marvelling at how easy it was. _'Maybe I should try using some Wind? _He wondered to himself.

"You BASTARD!" roared the Lieutenant, beside himself with rage.

"Aw, come on," Naruto said reasonably, trying to get the man angry, "we did you a favour. That statue was pretty terrible, so now you can start over!"

"AAARGH!" The man charged again, like a bull running at a red cape.

Naruto stood stock still, focusing his chakra – he didn't intend to dodge this time. He felt wind energy build in his hand, and let it simmer and simmer until he was ready... when Morgan was just two feet away, he thrust out a flat palm, carrying a gale of wind along with it. He felt it roar in his ears and watched the much larger man falter, eyes widening for a second as he was pushed back. His entire body started leaning back at an angle, and then he was off – his feet left the ground and he was airborne!

Naruto whooped appreciatively, smiling ear-to-ear. "Awesome!"

But pretty soon, the huge man was up again – he'd only flown back about ten feet! Naruto knew he'd put enough chakra into it – he'd never had any problems with raw power – the problem was, the gust of wind was too uncontrolled and wild, and too little of it actually hit Morgan well enough to send him back – instead it flew out wildly, spreading out in all directions but the target.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as the man came flying at him again, anger renewed. He Substituted with a piece of statue rubble and appeared behind the man. "Let's try again!" he hollered teasingly.

As Morgan turned around, axe swinging around with him, Naruto pumped even more chakra into both of his hands... but to make it stay together and not spread out, he tried to make it spiral out, focusing on the way chakra spirals around constantly in a Rasengan.

Morgan turned and saw the blond, whose arms stretched behind his back with hands held out. "I don't know what that wind was," Morgan growled, "but don't think you're catching me with it again!" He charged yet again, axe held ready to strike.

Behind Naruto, wind picked up around his hands and swirled in a vortex and when the evil Lieutenant was closing in just a few feet away, he thrust both hands forward, pushing them together and letting the spiralling wind he'd gathered _out._ "Take THAT!"

The jinchuuriki watched, and saw a small _tornado_ appear out of his hands, cupped in front of him. It stretched forward, growing in diameter and then smashed into Lieutenant Morgan's chest and stomach. The massive man was sent soaring high, pushed off the ground and flying. He let out a last roar that was barely heard over the roaring wind. He flew, farther and farther, going over the side of the building and slowly falling down to the ground.

Naruto stared at the place Morgan had once been for a full ten seconds. Then he put his hands up to his face and stared in wonder. "I have GOT to get a name for _that!"_

* * *

_/... meanwhile, in the tower.../_

Luffy stretched back, swords in his teeth, aiming himself for the place where Zoro and Coby were about to be shot. His arms still firmly gripping the sides of the window, he finally jumped, letting the tension held in rubber arms propel him out of the room.

"Gomu Gomu no SLINGSHOT!"

* * *

Naruto looked over the side of the building at where the Lieutenant had fallen... something was going on there... wait! Marines were holding Coby and Zoro at gunpoint! Morgan's falling in their midst had startled them, but they were still going through with the execution! What could he do?!

Then, he got an idea to get him over there in time: He made a large amount of clones and had them grab each other, arm to leg, leg to arm, making two long chains. He made more and more until at last he himself hung at the end of these two chains, each one grabbing one of his ankles. "Go, guys! We don't have any time!"

Then they started twisting and turning in the air, writing like a great snake. They swung him round and round, higher and higher, in an imitation of the first Shadow Clone chain he'd made in the fight with Sasuke at the Valley of End, until he reached the apex of their highest swing yet.

"NOW!" He screamed.

They let go, and he went flying.

* * *

_/...on the ground.../_

Zoro didn't know what to do. He _couldn't _die, not yet, but death was staring him in the face at this very moment. He had a promise, he remembered it well, and as he stared at the barrel of the many guns pointed at him flashes of Kuina went past his eyes – sparring with her _(losing _to her); talking to her _(arguing _with her); and her funeral _(crying _for her). He felt like crying now... he would never fulfil his promise, the one reason he'd lived for all these years –

_BAM! _

A body had fallen from the sky! Was that... Morgan?! He was unconscious, it seemed, and he'd fallen directly on the soldiers holding he and Coby at gunpoint. The ones who weren't flattened were startled and stepped backwards, distracted. They stared at their fallen tyrant for a second, but they didn't have much time before the air was filled with battle cries.

"AAAAH!"

Zoro looked on, astonished. It was literally _raining _attackers straight from the sky! And they were identical! Blond and orange-clad, they fought valiantly, punching, kicking, chopping, throwing – but there wasn't enough of them, for a few Marines were still ready to shoot Zoro and Coby, taking aim even in the middle of the raging battle around them. Zoro braced himself yet again, preparing for death – and someone _else _fell from the sky.

What the hell was going on today?!

It was the Straw Hat boy, who'd shot like a cork and landed, arms outstretched, in front of Zoro. The swordsman shouted for him to look out – they were about to shoot – but it was too late. Gunshots rang out as bullet after bullet flew into the pirate's skin.

But something strange happened then – the bullets visibly stretched against the boy's skin, which was pulled back a whole foot, almost stretching to touch Zoro (who was now bug-eyed with confusion). Then, with massive elastic force, the bullets shot back _out _of the boy's skin, back at the Marines!

Even more Marines went down from the reversal of the bullets, and the strange rubber boy stood tall, perfectly fine. The battle, Zoro realised, was over.

Monkey D. Luffy turned around, grinning from ear to ear. He held out the three swords he'd been holding – _'My swords,'_ Zoro thought – and said cheekily, "Told you we'd get 'em back." He took one out from its holder and cut the ropes that had bound Zoro to this post for days on end.

Zoro stood, and found his legs were weak. But still he stood, stretching as he hadn't for over a week and breathing deeply in a way, just a moment ago, he'd been worried he might never get the chance do again. He looked at these two teenagers: One skinny and black-haired; dressed with straw hat, plain red vest and blue pants. The other blond-haired and blue-eyed; wearing an odd orange-and-black jumpsuit with matching sandals. Neither of them could have been older than seventeen.

But he'd made a promise, and he never, ever went back on his word. So he took his katana from the blond, and looked at Straw-Hat. He smiled (a little ruefully) and said, "I guess... you're my captain now, huh?"

The boy shot off like a cork.

"YEAH!" His fists pumped in the air and he was the picture of joy. "I GOT MY FIRST REAL CREW MEMBER! _WHOOOOO!_"

The blond next to him seemed to take offence. "First real crew member?! What am I, a damn anchor?!"

"You're a ninja magician, you don't count," said Straw Hat matter-of-factly. Then he was back to partying. "WHOOOOO! CREW-_MATE_, CREW-_MATE, _CREW_-MATE_ –"

"By the way," Zoro interrupted them, "you might want to deal with your friend that got shot."

The two paused and looked down at the bespectacled boy lying unconscious at Zoro's feet.

"Oh _shit, _COBY!" Luffy and Naruto immediately rushed toward their downed friend and hurriedly ran off with him in search of medical help; leaving Zoro to seriously wonder how good of an idea it was to join a crew made up of _those_ twoidiots.

* * *

Later, when Coby was patched up by the helpful doctors of the island, he, Luffy, Naruto and Zoro sat eating in the house of that same nice little girl, Rika. Her mother, like basically everyone in town, was now feeling immensely thankful towards this strange band of 'pirates' who came and single-handedly stopped Morgan and Helmeppo's iron hold on the entire town.

"Ah!" sighed Zoro, finally full, "I'm full after so many days without eating!" He then looked around the table before him; Luffy was still chowing down on whatever meat he could find in the house. Naruto was finished, but upon closer inspection, one could see _thirteen _dirty bowls stacked up from the ground beside him. "How can you two eat so much?" the green-haired swordsman asked in wonder.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, not only did we forget to bring a map, we forgot to stock up on food before we set out to sea. You better believe that ain't happening again!" The blond patted his stomach in satisfaction. "Sorry for eating all your ramen, ma'am!"

Rika's mother smiled kindly. "It's no problem, after you four have saved the entire town yourself. It's the least I could do, in fact!"

Naruto grinned as she walked out, but her daughter was next to start harping to them again. "You two are so strong!"

"Yep!" both affirmed. Luffy continued, "And I'm only gonna get stronger, too!"

"Oh, yeah," Zoro said suddenly, addressing his hat-wearing captain, "what are your plans? What do we do once we leave here?"

Luffy smiled. "We're heading for the Grand Line next!"

Coby lost his cool at that. "What?! The GRAND LINE?! Don't you know the world's strongest pirates are all there?!"

Naruto smiled. "Well, if we want to find One Piece, that's a pretty good place to start looking, isn't it?" Coby despaired as he saw he was the only one who was worrying about this. Naruto put his hand on Coby's shoulder reassuringly and said, "We'll be _fine, _Coby, don't worry about us!"

"Can't I worry about you guys? After all this stuff, aren't we friends now?"

Luffy smiled. "Sure! We may be going our separate ways, but we'll always be friends, Coby!"

The bespectacled boy seemed to glow with happiness at that statement. Then Zoro bumped him lightly in the head with the hilt of his sword. "What?"

"You'd better be worrying about _yourself, _not us," he said. "You want to be a Marine, right? I doubt they'll invite you in if they find out you used to be on a pirate crew, voluntarily or not."

At that moment, as if on cue, the door opened, revealing a Marine standing at the door, with more of his Marine companions behind him. He cleared his throat as their eyes settled on him, wasting no time. "Is it true that you are pirates?" he asked Luffy and Naruto.

"Yep!" Luffy replied casually, "And we just got another crew member too."

The bearded Marine bowed his head. "I see... remember, we are all grateful to you three for ending the reign of Lieutenant Morgan and his spoiled brat of a son. But since you are a pirate and we are Marines, we must now respectfully ask you to leave."

The crowd behind him, composed mostly of villagers, wasn't at all happy about the news. Many complained about ungratefulness and rudeness, but the Marine stood firm.

Luffy, strangely, seemed unperturbed. "I guess we're leaving then," he said, and his two companions got up and left the table, thanking Rika's mother as they got up.

Rika herself wasn't happy. "A-Are you really leaving?" she asked, eyes moist. Naruto nodded sombrely, but gave her an encouraging smile and patted her head as he passed.

Coby watched them go, but the Marine asked him, "Hold on, weren't you with them?"

They stopped to hear his final answer, and, though it seemed difficult for him to spit it out and he could barely hold himself together, he eventually did say: "N-N-No, I'm... not w-with them."

"Hey," said the Marine, and Luffy and Naruto stopped. "He telling the truth?"

Luffy was about to answer, but Naruto stopped him at the last second just to be safe (he really didn't need anything stupid Luffy said to mess up Coby's dream of being a Marine) and said with a callous air, "Of course he is. Little wimp's got another thing coming if he wants to come with _us._"

Coby's eyes widened at the meanness in Naruto's voice, but saw an almost imperceptible wink from the blond as the Marine turned around, accepting his statement.

And as Luffy, Naruto and Zoro left, they smiled as they heard Coby's request. "Please, sir, let me join the Marines! Even if all I can do is chores, I swear I'll get it done!"

"Well, we better get out of here now before we get in even _more _trouble somehow," said Naruto breezily.

Zoro smirked. "Not leaving anything behind, that's just what a pirate life is about."

But as they untethered their stolen Marine ship from the dock, they saw the same pink-haired boy before them again.

"THANK YOU, LUFFY-SAN, NARUTO-SAN!" he said making a perfect soldier's salute. "I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU THREE IN ALL MY LIFE!"

"Don't think I've ever seen a Marine salute pirates before," remarked Zoro, smirking.

They were startled as the rest of the Marine company appeared behind Coby suddenly, and at a call of "GROUP SALUTE" they all did the same as Coby. Zoro's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto laughed and Luffy waved happily.

And that was how the Straw Hats left on the next leg of their journey; waving back at their saluting enemies.


End file.
